The Last of the Mohicans

In 1757, during the French and Indian War, Mohican Chingachgook, his son, Uncas, and his white, adopted son, "Hawkeye," are travelling through the upstate New York wilderness. Stopping at the farm of a friend, they learn of the British Army's intent to incorporate the colonial militia into their forces to fight against the French and their Indian allies. While some of the colonials and local native tribes agree to join the militia on the condition that they will be released to defend their homes should the French or Indians attack, Hawkeye, the Mohicans, and others show no interest.
British Army Major Duncan Heyward arrives in Albany, New York, reports to commanding officer General Jerome Webb and is assigned to Colonel Edmund Munro, the commander of Fort William Henry in the Adirondack Mountains (historically George Monro). Heyward is tasked with escorting Munro's two daughters, Cora and Alice, to their father. Before they leave, Heyward asks Cora to marry him, but she asks for more time before giving her answer.
A Huron named Magua, masquerading as a Mohawk ally, is tasked with guiding Heyward, the two women, and a troop of British soldiers to the fort, but instead leads them into an ambush that kills most of the soldiers. Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas, who had been tracking the Huron war party, arrive and kill all of the Hurons except Magua, who escapes. The trio agrees to take the women and Heyward to the fort. Reaching their friends' farm, they find their friends massacred by an enemy Ottawa war party, but do not stop to bury the victims so as to not alert the Hurons to their having been there. As their journey continues, Cora and Hawkeye become attracted to each other, while Uncas begins to show an interest in Alice.
They find the fort under siege by the French and their Huron allies, but manage to sneak in. Colonel Munro is surprised to see his daughters, as he had sent a letter to them in Albany warning them to stay away, which never reached them. During the siege, a romance blossoms between Hawkeye and Cora. Heyward becomes jealous of Hawkeye when Cora tells Heyward she will not accept his marriage proposal. A militiaman sets out at night to try to reach General Webb at Fort Edward with a dispatch for reinforcements, with Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas providing covering fire from the fort.
Hawkeye and the militiamen confront Munro about the agreement with Webb that the militiamen could leave to protect their homesteads if they were threatened. After Heyward lies about the massacre at the farm, Munro refuses to honor the agreement. Hawkeye helps the men sneak away, and is arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang. In a parley with French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, when Munro learns that Webb will send no reinforcements, he is forced to accept Montcalm's terms of surrender, which include the promise that the British can leave the fort honorably with their arms. Magua is furious because he bears a personal grudge against Munro, whom he blames for the murder of his family and his own enslavement by the Mohawk; Montcalm tacitly agrees to allow Magua to attack the British once they have left the fort.
Once Munro, his soldiers, and the civilians (with Hawkeye still a prisoner) have left the fort and traveled some distance, Huron warriors led by Magua attack and massacre them. Munro's horse is killed by Magua and falls on top of him, trapping him; Magua promises him that he will kill his daughters and then cuts out his heart. Chingachgook and Uncas free Hawkeye, and they fight their way out of the massacre, taking Cora, Alice, and Heyward via canoe across a lake and downriver. They hide in a cave behind a waterfall, but Magua and the Hurons find them. Before Hawkeye, Uncas and Chingachgook escape by leaping from the waterfall, Hawkeye tells Cora to stay alive and swears that he will find her.
Magua takes his three prisoners to a Huron settlement, with Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas in pursuit. While Magua is addressing a sachem, Hawkeye walks in unarmed for a parley to plead for their lives. The sachem rules that Heyward is to be returned to the British, Alice be given to Magua for the wrongs done to him by Munro, and Cora be burned alive. Magua is enraged at the sachem's claim that his actions show that his way is not the true Huron way and at his decision about the captives; he storms off with his warriors, taking Alice with them. Although Hawkeye is told he may leave in peace for his bravery, he offers to take Cora's place. Heyward, who is acting as interpreter, instead tells the Hurons to take his own life for Cora's. As Hawkeye is leaving the village with Cora, he shoots Heyward, who is being burned alive, as an act of mercy.
Chingachgook, Uncas, and Hawkeye then pursue Magua's party to rescue Alice. Uncas races ahead on a cliffside path and kills several of the Hurons in combat, but is killed by Magua and thrown off the cliff's edge. Devastated to see Uncas's death, Alice refuses to remain with her captors and commits suicide by jumping off the same cliff. Enraged, Hawkeye and Chingachgook catch up to the Hurons and kill many of them. Hawkeye then holds the rest at gunpoint, allowing Chingachgook to fight and kill Magua himself, avenging Uncas's death. Afterward, with Hawkeye and Cora by his side, Chingachgook prays to the Great Spirit to receive Uncas, proclaiming himself, "the last of the Mohicans".